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Friday, December 30, 2016

Well, if it's Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Fiction Friday.

Every Friday I take the initiative to search through thew newly free titles on Amazon, and to identify those that might be of interest to readers, fans, and lovers of bending gender and sexuality. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon's free reading applications, and covert it (if need be) with Calibre. I can tell you I do most of my reading on my tablet, using Kindle for PC, and it works beautifully.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, though, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

I am delighted to say that my second audiobook experience was a marked improvement on the first. Not only did I find the narrator (Dorinda Ravish) a more suitable choice for the story, but I found my own familiarity with the technology making it a more enjoyable experience.

Although Jessie Ash was kind enough to send me a few of her stories, Attack of the Hooker Monster was such a great title, I just had to make it my next listen. This was a lot of fun, a silly sort of superhero tale with a sexual twist. Charlie is a lonely guy who debases himself as a 'joke' stripper for a living. When his latest gig at a research facility goes wrong, he finds himself cursed with unusual superpowers that begin with each gender-swapping sneeze. Jessie has some real fun with the clichés of the genre, but she pulls no punches (pun intended) in exploiting the potential for sex and violence. This was a story that surprised me more than a few times, but whether it is being dark or silly, the personality of Charlie is what makes it so engaging.

As for the audiobook experience, I found the choice of a female narrator worked well for this story, especially since Charlie spends so much of it as a woman. Dorinda Ravish is an engaging reader, clearly spoken, with a nice style, and a refreshing restraint when it comes to over dramatizing the voices. Finally, once I realized I could increase the speed with the Audible app, bringing it closer to my own comfort level, the whole experience improved.

Attack of the Hooker Monster is not just another fun story from Jessie Ash, it is also the first audiobook I can honestly say I really enjoyed. I will definitely be giving a few more a listen as I work my way through the holidays at the gym

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

One More Thing... is a short, sexy, surprising read from Lyka Bloom, with most of the transformation happening off the page, forgotten by Ben in his hypnotic blackouts.

It all begins when Ben starts hitting on a shy, pretty girl at a bar. He reactions are a bit odd, and her seduction a little bit reluctant, but just when it seems her interest has piqued, her mysterious friend shows up.

Over the next week, Ben begins feeling, looking, and even thinking more feminine. He starts sneaking into the office in women's lingerie, skipping meetings to masturbate, and leaving his secretary to take control. When he discovers that the girl at at the bar is a sissy - just like he is becoming - things get sexy, and when her mistress starts taking an active role . . . well, let us just say Ben is going to be one very happy girl.

This is a quick story, but it is a fun one with a lot of sexy moments, and what (for most of us) counts as a happily-ever-after.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Just in time for the holiday season, A Wish For Christmas is the latest transgender tale from Courtney Captisa. Combining elements of magical gender swaps and age regression, all with a reverse sort of It's a Wonderful Life feel, this is a sweet, feel-good story with two possible happily-ever-afters (but more on that in a moment).

Ryan Sutton is a young man, heading home for the holidays for the first time in four years, only to be stunned and saddened by all the changes. Family, friends, and the town itself have all gone downhill. When he makes an idle Christmas wish for "things to be like how they used to be, back when everyone was happy and things were better," he wakes up the next morning to find it has 10 years ago and he is a girl!

Although Courtney always done a stellar job of detailing how her characters deal with gender change, this may be some of her best work. There is a real hysterical edge to Rachel's first days, with the threat of hospitalizing looming large to deal with her madness, and the gradual way in which she comes to cope - aided by a bestie she never knew as Ryan - tells a story all on its own. The background details are strong as well, with plenty of technology nostalgia to really convince us it is 2005 all over again.

As for those two possible happily-ever-afters, the story reaches a climax in the final pages, with a seemingly innocuous decision looming for Rachel. In deciding what she would do, the reader gets to direct the story's conclusion in a choose-your-own-adventure style. I tried really hard to pick one and stick with it, but then I had to go back and see the other ending. Personally I think I made the right choice the first time, but it is still fun to see the alternative.

Sweet, emotionally deep, and even a bit of fun, A Wish For Christmas is a transgender feel-good holiday story that manages to avoid being too sappy or heavy-handed. Well worth a read!

Friday, December 23, 2016

Whether you are talking about the literary genre or the lifestyle itself, female domination isn't a simple fantasy/fetish niche. It is an umbrella term for a wide range of experiences, which can range all the way from affectionate spankings to cruel torture and humiliation. Some of it can be quite shocking, but it is important to remember that one person's punishment is another's passion.

And that, I believe, is what sets Dommes & Submissives: A Femdom Anthology apart. Billierosie certainly explores the darker, edgier, crueler side of female domination - sometimes to the point of making me squirm in my seat - but never loses sight of that fine line between pain and pleasure . . . between punishment and passion. These are not stories of games or recreational fetish scenes, but of a lifestyle commitment, and both parties know what they are in for.

There is a lot of psychology and philosophy to the stories here, which I found fascinating. Getting inside the heads of Dommes and submissives alike is always interesting, and Billierosie paints a vivid picture of precisely why they choose to partake of such extremes. There is definitely an element of female superiority to some of the stories, especially with the globalized secret society of the Coterie, while the men have an inherent need to be owned. While it is not a collection without its moments of affection, the first story especially makes it clear how the lifestyle can fail when it is not separated from traditional ideas of love.

Personally, I enjoyed a lot of what is on display here - erotic bondage, forced oral worship, aggressive pegging, orgasm control, and even the public humiliation. Some scenes were a little too cruel for my tastes, and there was some talk of degradation that crossed a line for me, but overall I enjoyed it. Billierosie is a talented author, with a genuine flair for portraying powerful women, making this a solid read for Dommes & Submissives alike.

Well, if it's Friday, then that must been it's time for Freebie Fiction Friday . . . time to put the 'TG' in TGIF (and the 'FD' in Friday)!

Every Friday I take the initiative to search through thew newly free titles on Amazon, and to identify those that might be of interest to trans* readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon's free reading applications, and covert it (if need be) with Calibre. I can tell you I do most of my reading on my tablet, using Kindle for PC, and it works beautifully.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, though, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

A little something different today - my first attempt at reviewing an audio book. Jessie Ash was kind enough to claim my aural virginity with The Gender Game, and I gave the story a listen during my lunch-time walks last week.

Let me start with the story itself, which I liked quite a bit. This is a gender-swap thriller involving secret societies, urban legends, and deals with the Devil. Luke is a pompous womanizer, while Robbie is an insecure geek. Neither is exactly tops in their class, so it's a total surprise when their mysterious black envelopes arrive. It seems the two men are going to be entered into a game - with Luke transformed into a gorgeous woman, and Robbie into a handsome stud - and the first to succumb to temptation loses. The story, of course, focuses almost entirely on Luke's struggles to adapt to his newfound femininity, with the story allowing him to develop emotionally and intellectually as he seeks help from a jilted girlfriend and rather stunned roommate. The twist here is that he must come to weigh the promise of love with the guarantee of wealth and power, and decide whether the game is worth winning.

From what I understand of audiobooks, this is a standard narrative production. Unlike the more expensive dramatizations you might get from bestselling authors at major publishing houses, there is no music, sound effects, or other actors involved. Instead, you get a single narrator reading the story, and altering her voice slightly for each character. Not being used to audiobooks, it is hard to comment on that narration, because it still feels weird to have somebody reading me a story. I will say that Morgan Tyler speaks very clearly, and reads at a nice, comfortable pace. I did find the choice of a female narrator odd, however, as most of the characters are male, making her attempts to convey things like cocky arrogance and elderly sarcasm ring false to my ears.

Regardless, I did enjoy The Gender Game, and appreciated the ability to listen to it while going for my lunch-hour walk. Listening to a story is definitely a different experience than reading one, but I would not be opposed to trying it again.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

A little something different for you again today, brought to you by the gracious and lovely ladies over at The House of Sissify - Your House of Feminization. If you have never been, it is quite a lovely site, complete with online erotica, comics, training material, and even a sissy social network.

The whole story is told from the point-of-view of Lady Giovanna herself, and is directed at other dominant women with the motive and means to avail themselves of a sissy servant. The captions are done in an instructional style, while the dialogue is more narrative entertainment, with Lady Giovanna using the story of Frederick's transformation into Fiyonna to illustrate her lessons.

There is a complete story here, and one that takes us from Frederick's discovery in a lingerie store, through his initial feminization, into his training as a sissy submissive, and ultimately through his first public showing to the women of Lady Giovanna’s circle. While we do not get any of his thoughts, his uncertainty and fear are communicated via the way he speaks and acts. Fetishists will find a lot to admire here, with the story incorporating enemas, hair removal, corsets, extreme heels, makeup, and bondage gear, while the captions give everything a sexy edge, as Lady Giovanna reminds us that the reality is often very different than the fantasy.

Needless to say, Lady Giovanna’s Guide to Feminizing the French Maid is gorgeously illustrated and wonderfully laid out, with the lettering crisp, and the panels artfully arranged. To be honest, the fantasy was still very much alive for me at the end, but I do wonder where Fiyonna goes next.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

I fell in love with the idea of Circe & Telemachus from its first blurb, and was grateful to Eloise Abelard for sharing a copy. Now, having had the time to read it (and re-read it), I am pleased to say that I am absolutely delighted with how the story turned out.

This is an altogether lovely story that has the feel of myth. Abelard weaves a lovingly crafted tale where every phrase, every word, is chosen with the utmost care. Just cast your gaze upon the introduction of our spellbound lovers:

Golden-haired Telemachus, ringlets cropped short in a boyish style, had come of age.

The Lady Circe, her skin as pale as milk and her hair the fiery red of polished copper, sat upon her throne.

The story of Circe & Telemachus deliberately echoes that of Circe and Odysseus, right down to the transformation of sailors into swine, but with one notable difference. Where his father depended upon the intervention of the messenger god, Hermes, to spare him from Circe's magic, the very nature of the spell itself is what spares Telemachus. Not knowing his true self, he is trapped in an eternal twilight, from which the world can only be released if he discovers himself.

While magical transformations are a staple of classical mythology, I loved how Abelard refused to indulge in such instant wish-fulfillment. With Telemachus temporarily tapped in time and resistant to any such spells, Circe must instead coax the femininity out of this "most maidenly boy," and allow him to "learn his new place in life slowly, just as most girls do." As in the original tales, Circe does use trickery and dreams as part of her plans, and Telemachus is tested along the way, but his failures are what ultimately open him up to the potential of "a secret girl, hidden in the body of a boy . . . a pearl, held fast within an oyster."

A perfect read for fans of sensual feminizations, encouraged by love rather than lust, Circe & Telemachus is a gorgeous tale that is to be savored. I was a bit taken aback by the twist at the end, but also excited by the potential of what comes next.